The Acacia Quartet is a string quartet based in Australia. It was founded in 2010 by violinists Lisa Stewart and Myee Clohessy, violist Stefan Duwe, and cellist Anna Martin-Scrase. Stewart plays A. E Smith violins. With the departure of Clohessy, Doreen Cummings joined the quartet as second violin.
The Acacia Quartet were artists-in-residence at the radio station Fine Music 102.5 from 2014 to 2016. They made their international debut performing the 2-hour long AIDS Memoir Quartet of Lyle Chan in Vancouver, Canada and then travelled to Berlin to perform and record several string quartets by the Nazi-banned late German composer Günter Raphael. Their discography demonstrates their longstanding collaborations with Australian composers Lyle Chan, Elena Kats-Chernin. and Moya Henderson. Jane Sheldon recorded with the quartet.
In 2018 Acacia Quartet collaborated with classical guitarist Matt Withers for his Australian Music Composition Competition, culminating in a tour and CD recording of new Australian music. Imaginations double album was digitally released by ABC Classics and subsequently featured on multiple radio stations around Australia as CD of the Week as well as in Virgin Australia's Inflight Entertainment.
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards are presented annually from 1987 by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | North + South • Ten Folk Songs (with Jane Sheldon & Genevieve Lang) | Best Classical Album | Nominated | |
| 2020 | Muse (with Alicia Crossley) | Nominated |
References
- McKnight, Albert (25 September 2014). "South Coast Music Camp hits right notes with Acacia Quartet". Bega District News.
- "Fine Music Magazine" (PDF). May 2016.
- "Acacia Quartet: A Wonderful Partnership". Fine Music 102.5 FM. 11 April 2016.
- "Queer Arts Festival composers venture into the perpetual and the textual". Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- "Australian Music Centre Online : Breaking Sound Barriers". www.australianmusiccentre.com.au. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- "frameset". www.guenter-raphael.de. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- String Quartet: An AIDS Activist's Memoir in Music by Acacia Quartet on Apple Music, 6 May 2014, retrieved 16 December 2017
- Blue Silence by Acacia Quartet on Apple Music, 6 November 2012, retrieved 16 December 2017
- ARIA Award previous winners. "ARIA Awards – Winners by Award". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 9 July 2022.